File affidavit on shelter homes: HC

Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed professor P.L. Vishweshwar Rao, whose letter on the plight of street children and the homeless during coronavirus pandemic was taken up as PIL plea, to file a detailed affidavit on the points he had raised.

A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy was hearing the plea along with another letter written by a lawyer S. Nanda and taken up as public interest litigation (PIL) petition. The bench asked the professor to explain the Act under which it was mandatory for the government to establish Old Age Homes in every district of the State. Mr. Rao contended that such homes were only available in Hyderabad and Karimnagar but not in all other districts of the State. The professor told the bench that the government had created shelter homes for migrant workers at different parts of GHMC area during the lockdown.

Along with non-local workers, even street children and homeless individuals were also provided accommodation and food in such shelter homes. With majority of the out-station workers leaving the city, these homes were closed down.

As a result, the street children and the homeless had no place to go and were becoming vulnerable to coronavirus as they had to come onto the streets to live, the professor contended.

“It is the State’s duty to look after the street children and the homeless during such crisis,” the petitioner said. He told the bench that he had visited two shelter homes in Musheerabad and L.B. Nagar only to find them closed. The bench posted the pleas for July 5.